Readers of the cross did not receive their newspaper on Tuesday, September 10. The operation of the newspaper and the Bayard Group was seriously disrupted by a cyber attack that began on Sunday, September 8. On Tuesday morning, the editorial office was still slowing down. “We still don’t have internet and the day promises to be complicated because all of Bayard is affected”a journalist confided in the morning.
In question, ransomware that affected part of the systems of Bayard, the publisher of the Catholic newspaper the crossfrom the weekly the pilgrimof the month our timebut also emblematic titles of the children’s press (Api apple, Astrapi, Okapi, I like to read…).
The goal of ransomware, as the name suggests, is to extort a company into paying a ransom, usually by rendering its internal data unreadable. The data is frequently copied by hackers, who demand a large sum of money to stop it from being distributed online.
System D
The attack forced Bayard to stop. “Most editorial, production and marketing tools”According to an internal message sent on Monday morning that The world He was able to consult. As a precaution, the Bayard Group’s e-commerce site was closed since Monday afternoon and was still undergoing maintenance on Tuesday afternoon. This practice is relatively classic in the event of a cyber attack: it prevents malware from spreading to an entire network.
“The IT department did not want to reconnect the back office [l’accès au système de publication] before finding the gateway to ransomware »explains another employee of the cross. So on Monday the website was up “degraded mode”and is accessible for free. “There should be a newspaper tomorrow, Wednesday, but it takes some detours to connect, especially with La Croix”Several journalists from the editorial office said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Symbol of the gravity of the crisis: internal communication had asked its employees “not responding to requests for information from abroad”.
Meanwhile, the closing of issue 7398 of the weekly the pilgrim – in it “jungle” Very high speed fiber: it was still able to be completed on Monday evening and will be on newsstands on Thursday as planned. But it is for the cross that journalists should use the D system to dispense with everyday tools. “On Monday all the printers were out of service, as were all the servers that allow the pages to be enriched with infographics”laments a journalist. “We can no longer connect to our publishing tool via wired computers, we must use WiFi and activate a VPN (virtual private network) to update the website”several internal sources detail.
“We are still assessing the damage”
“Our technical teams, in collaboration with cybersecurity experts, are actively working to remedy the situation and restore the systems necessary for the company’s operations in a safe manner.”The press group simply announced in a brief press release published early Tuesday evening. According to our information, the Anssi (National Agency for the Security of Information Systems) was also warned of the online attack by the Bayard group. The agency responsible for state computer protection declined to comment. “that data security” of its customers and employees is a “absolute priority”The Bayard group promises to announce “all evolution” of the situation in the coming days.
Did the hack also affect the subscriber database? the cross He did not mention the subject in his first message to his readers published in the edition – with reduced pagination and only available in PDF – that went online on Tuesday. “We are still assessing the damage”responds to WorldPascal Ruffenach, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bayard, will be replaced on 1 November by François Morinière. “At the moment we do not have a definitive view of the damage or the repairs that will be necessary, but I know that more than forty-eight hours will be necessary.”he added, declining to specify whether a ransom had been requested.
This cyber attack is taking place in the context of a reform of internal IT services (DSI). While each department of the Bayard group had a dedicated IT team, Rudy Bertrand, appointed at the end of February 2024, the IT manager has the task of centralising the teams. Contacted, he did not respond to our requests. While the junior branch of Bayard, which has always ensured the group’s profits, is undergoing a transformation of its uses, the company is going through a difficult period. The 2023-2024 financial year is expected to be very loss-making: around 7.5 million euros, something unheard of, for an expected turnover of 340 million euros.
